BROTHER JIM’S MARBLE-BAG
[Illustration]
“Sir Bodkin!” called Margaret one warm spring day. The One-Eyed Fairies
had been having a long rest in their home. They were very glad to hear
Margaret’s voice again.
“She wants us!” they cried excitedly.
“Hush!” commanded their King, “she wants me. Everybody wait until I see
who is needed to-day.” He hopped so quickly out of the work-basket that
he fell headlong to the floor.
“Goody me!” cried Margaret picking him up and sticking him in the red
tomato pincushion. “Are you hurt?”
“Oh no! that’s nothing. One of the chief sports of our band is
floor-falling. We love to slip to the floor so we can be picked up. It’s
very good for your waist-line,” said Sir Bodkin.
Margaret laughed. “You’re a funny man,” she said.
“Did you want me for anything to-day, My Lady?” he asked.
“Yes, I wanted to make a good strong bag for Jim’s marbles. They’re
always falling out of his pockets and rolling all over the floor for us
to step on. We nearly break our necks,” she replied.
“Well, upon my word, that’s a shame. However we’ll soon remedy that. Get
a piece of heavy, strong cloth, like denim or gingham. Be sure it’s a
dark color, blue or brown or green, so it won’t show the dirt, and we’ll
start,” he said.
[Illustration: “Fold the goods lengthwise and cut”]
So Margaret hunted through her mother’s piece-box again until she found
some cloth that suited her purpose.
“Here we are!” she exclaimed to Sir Bodkin, as she came back to the
room. Taking her little steel scissors out of the basket she made ready
to cut the cloth as she was directed.
“That’s the thing; blue denim makes excellent marble-bags. You can make
sewing-bags of cretonne or silk and laundry-bags of chintz or linen, but
marble-bags must be of very tough cloth. All bags are about the same
when it comes to the way of making. It’s just good, strong seams with no
raw edges showing, a proper casing for the drawing-strings, and the
right kind of openings to pull the strings through. The bags differ only
in size and shape. Now for this bag, fold the goods lengthwise, and cut
it six inches wide and seven inches long,” Sir Bodkin told her.
“Now, Baster,” said he, “come out for your harness and step along the
seam at the bottom and up the side, on the right side of the bag,
keeping one-quarter inch from the edge.” Baster stepped quickly across
the bottom, around the corner and up one side.
[Illustration: Basting and running on outside of bag]
[Illustration: Basting and back-stitching on inside of bag]
“The fold makes the other side,” explained Sir Bodkin. “Now we’ll need a
stout Stitcher for finishing the seams of this heavy material.” So he
called out all the Stitchers and selected one with a large eye. Margaret
harnessed him with blue cotton thread, then they were ready to sew the
seam.
“Run along the seam, across the bottom, around the corner and up one
side a little less than one-quarter inch from the edge beside the
basting. Take tiny steps close together,” he said, “and fasten the
thread well at beginning and ending.”
When this was done and Baster and Large Runner were resting in the
pincushion on the table, Margaret pulled out the bastings and turned the
little bag wrong side out.
“Run your finger all along the seam inside to push it well out to the
sewing. Now baste the seam a little more than a quarter inch from the
edge, so there will be no raw edges showing on the finished felled
seam,” the King said.
“Is this a felled seam?” Margaret asked.
“Yes, it is a French fell,” Sir Bodkin said.
When the seam was basted, Sir Bodkin asked Large Runner to come and
back-stitch it.
“It must be sewed good and strong to stand the strain of holding heavy
marbles,” said Sir Bodkin.
With Margaret’s right fingers holding him, Large Runner went to one end
of the seam, at the corner of the bag, and began to step along, singing:
[Illustration: Back-stitching]
“With three steps to start
I fasten the thread.
My toe goes in towards you,
Comes out one stitch ahead.
Now backward I step,
Just one stitch long,
Step in and step out
Like the first of this song.
I am coming towards you
All the time, you can see,
And making the stitches
As close as can be.”
Across the bottom, around the corner, and up the side they went, busily
sewing the seam good and strong. At the end the thread was fastened with
three steps on one spot, and then the basting-thread was pulled out.
“One side of back-stitching looks very pretty while the other looks
something like a chain,” said Sir Bodkin, “but when done properly it’s
as strong as machine-stitching, and as near to it as we can do.”
[Illustration: Basting and hemming casing on inside of bag]
[Illustration: Finished bag]
Margaret was told to turn down the top of the little bag one-quarter
inch for the first turn and three-quarters inch for the second turn.
Then Baster stepped down this casing for the drawing-string so Large
Runner could hem it down to stay. When done, Margaret turned the bag
right side out. On the fold side of the bag Sir Bodkin showed her how to
cut a half-inch slit up and down in the casing. This she
blanket-stitched with blue thread to cover up the raw edges.
[Illustration: Eyelet for casing]
“The drawing-string goes in and out here,” he said. “You need only one
in a marble-bag. A shoe-lace will be strong enough.” Margaret found an
odd one of Jim’s.
“I don’t need to run this in the casing for you ’cause the metal tip
will do the work,” Sir Bodkin said. Margaret put the shoe-lace tip in
the slit and pushed it through the casing until it came out again at the
slit, with the ends even.
[Illustration]
“Tie the ends tightly together and your marble-bag is made,” the little
fellow said to his mistress, as he bowed very low.
“Thank you, thank you,” said Margaret. “Won’t Jim be tickled to get this
to hold his snappers, croakies, agates, and glassies.”